Major construction projects like the NEAT train tunnel though the Alps produce huge amounts of spoil - 24 million tonnes from the Gotthard alone. The volume is equivalent to five times that of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

Some is being processed at the construction site and is being re-used in the production of high-quality cement for the tunnel lining. Some of the rest is being sold to third parties as a raw construction material, or used for land reclamation or land fill.

Bathers swimming in the Reuss delta at the southern end of Lake Lucerne now have small islands at their disposal, created with some of the Gotthard spoil.

Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger even gives paperweights made of rock from deep under the Gotthard to his counterparts on official visits - a unique souvenir, and every one different.

Meanwhile it is planned to use the warm water draining from the new Lötschberg base tunnel for breeding sturgeon and growing tropical fruit. The water, which flows at the rate of about 150 (40 gallons) per second at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), could otherwise pose a danger to the native fish in Lake Thun.